Alliance of the New And Old
by Splash of Blue
Summary: When Merry and Pippin are summoned to Rivendell by Elrond, a whole new adventure is about to begin... Ok, Ok, I know the summary sucks but please review!
1. Rescue

A/N: I love Merry and Pippin! ::sighs adoringly:: I own Eara Firestar, Sunmaiden, Stormling and Arella. In other words, anything you recognise belongs to J.R.R. Tolkein, the rest, including the plot, is mine. Sorry about the rubbish title.
Alliance of the New And Old by Rubii Firestorm
"I wonder why Elrond's sent for us?" Meriadoc Brandybuck pondered aloud, as he and his cousin, Peregrin Took, trudged through leaf mould on their way to Rivendell. Pippin shook his head.
"No idea, but I hope Elrond won't mind that Sam couldn't come along, what with Rosie going to give birth to the baby any day now." Merry just shrugged and the two carried on their way, lost in silent thoughts.
"What the-" Pippin started as Merry yanked him unceremoniously behind a particularly prickly holly bush, shushing him violently as he did so. Suddenly Pippin saw what had alarmed his cousin: suspiciously orc-like creatures were marching through the woods in what passed in orcs for silence: crashing through the undergrowth with only a steady murmur of complaint.
"Uh oh," muttered Merry suddenly. "I'm going to sneeze, Pip…"
Pippin groaned in despair. He knew Merry's sneezes- they were of the 'blow your brains out' kind and it was inevitable that the pair would be noticed. Sure enough-
"A-WHOOOOSH-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" went ringing through the air and the previously peaceful glade was alive with snarling orcs. The two went for their swords but had their arms twisted, forcing them to drop them.
"Typical," sighed an impatient but friendly voice from behind them. "Just drop your swords, why don't you?" A youngish, pretty hobbit girl of about Merry and Pippin's age appeared from behind a nearby tree, whirling a loaded sling and brandishing a sword. Or was she a hobbit? Although her ears and height were correct for a hobbit, her feet were enclosed in sturdy fur lined boots, something no hobbit had ever worn, and she moved with a quickness, lightness and poised elegance that was very unusual in hobbits. Her hair was wavy, chestnut with golden tints where it had been bleached by the sun, and tied back from her face with a thin green leather strip and she wore a long green jerkin with a shortish skirt and thick black tights. A pale green mob cap with a blue feather stuck through it was perched at a jaunty angle on her head, her small hands were protected by dark green gloves and her eyes were large, catlike and green with amber flecks, flashing with temper and life. The black cape she wore was held with a silver and green elven clasp like the ones Merry and Pippin used, and her face was pointed, creamy and lightly sprinkled with freckles. She downed the two orcs holding Merry and Pippin captive without hesitation, the first with a blow from the loaded sling that she swung like a flexible club and the other with a quick slice from her sword. She leapt in front of the two hobbits, crouching in a fighters' stance.
"My Lord Elrond may have some small mercy upon your ugly selves if you were to back off. _Now_. Either that or you'll get picked off by a group of High Elven archers," she informed them. "One by disgusting, foul little one." One orc leered at her, his speech strangely grammatical for an orc.
"Well now, aren't you a pretty thing? The thing is, my dear, that you're not an elf, and therefore you have no protection from Lord Elrond. So what are we going to do with you?"
"I am at least one quarter elf," she growled in retaliation, looking as though she were about to spring at them. The other two hobbits glanced at each other- that would explain the boots. All the orcs took an automatic step backwards, but then closed in once more. It was obvious that even if Merry and Pippin had still had their weapons, none of the three would have stood a chance against so many orcs, but their mysterious friend still appeared to have the suicidal wish to attack. She sprang forwards so that the orcs moved backwards, then twisted 180 degrees in mid-air and grabbed Merry and Pippin's hands with a yell of "Run!" The three fled as one.
Despite being the quickest by far, their rescuer hung behind as they dashed headlong through the under growth, sending several well-aimed slingstones to their pursuers- Pippin thanked the gods there were no archers amongst the orcs. Suddenly another girl, unmistakeably an elf this time and a Rivendell elf at that, popped out from the undergrowth as they dashed pell-mell into a clearing where two horses, one a superb blue roan and the other pure white, grazed.
"Orcs," the hobbit-girl said succinctly, nodding behind her as she gasped for breath. Her elf-friend nodded, undoing her horse, the white one, in double quick time from where it had been tied by the reigns to a nearby tree. She grabbed Pippin by the shoulder surprisingly strongly, towing him over to the horse and giving him a foot up. She clambered up in front of him, as the hobbit girl did the same with Merry, clicking to their horses. Merry and Pippin wrapped their arms around the girls' waists and held on tight as the horses galloped away with the pursuing orcs not far behind and rapidly catching up.
The elf-girl led the two horses, her quick, sure hands handling the white horse marvellously, her balance perfect as she actually let go of the reins to turn round and fire several perfectly-aimed arrows at the orcs. The hobbit-girl just behind her was not such a good rider; she simply guided the horse slightly and otherwise gave it free rein, though she laughed with the thrill of the speed and the chase.
"Grab onto the reins with one hand!" she ordered Merry. When he did as she requested she took both hands off the horse's reins and twisted round in the saddle as her elf-friend did the same, the two uniting to fire arrows and sling stones at the orcs and making them fall back slightly. One orc, either braver or more stupid than his fellows, got close enough to clutch at Merry's sleeve and she moved to kill it but Merry got there first, slicing at the orc with one of his old, elvish daggers from the War of the Ring and the orc let go. The girl and Merry grinned at each other and she urged the horse into an even faster pace.
"Not much further!" called the elf. "Once we cross the river we'll be safe, my Father will sort those orcs."
"D'you reckon we'll make it?" asked her friend, glancing back once more at the ever-approaching orcs.
"We're going to have to, aren't we?" the elf replied, fear creeping into her previously confident voice for the first time.
"Come on Stormling," the hobbit coaxed her horse in Elvish, which Merry followed with difficulty. "Not much further now and we'll be safe. How's Sunmaiden bearing up?" she called to her friend.
"She'll be fine as long as we get to the ford soon," answered the elf.
"Oh gods… have you taken a look behind?" gasped the other. "We won't make it!"
The elf took a look behind as well and gave a small shriek of fright; the orcs were virtually touching the tail of the blue roan and the ford was still at least a minute away. It was obvious the riders would never make it and the two horses drew closer together. Merry swung a leg over the elf's horse and the hobbit-girl helped him then, when he was clinging safely to Pippin, she turned her horse sharply and drew her sword.
"I'll hold 'em off!" she snapped to her friend. "Get moving!"
"Good luck," the elfgirl told her simply in elvish and the white horse, Sunmaiden, drew away as the hobbit and Stormling wheeled to face the approaching menace.


	2. The Second Counsel

A/N: I'm afraid I haven't read the second or third books yet, though I have heard bits of them from my friends; this was chiefly inspired by the film, so if there are things happening which could not have happened, please try to accept them and just tell me what's wrong and why in your reviews.
Part 2: The Second Council
Arella didn't dare to look back as she urged Sunmaiden into an even faster pace, thanking the gods that hobbits were so small- Sunmaiden would never have been able to carry three riders otherwise. They splashed through the ford and up the hill to Rivendell. Just inside the gates, she vaulted off her horse- Pippin only just grabbed the reins in time- and then straight back up onto a fresh one, a golden mare of hers, named _Calitári_ or 'Lightqueen'.
"Orc attack!" she yelled to the surrounding elven warriors. "Ëara said she'd hold 'em off. Follow me!"
Not bothering to explain about the two shaken hobbits who were busy trying to stay on Sunmaiden, she raced back out the gates, followed by the other elves.
At the ford she met Stormling, who had a nasty gash to her left foreleg but led her to a small figure lying crumpled on the ground surrounded by the bodies of at last half a dozen orcs. Arella dismounted and at the sound of her approach, Ëara moved slightly, one green eye half-opening despite the raging bruise and lump the size of a pigeon's egg around it. Her friend dropped to her knees, examining Ëara's bruised body as well as she could without moving her. As far as she could see, one leg was broken and her arms and body were badly slashed, but there was nothing life-threatening, for which Arella breathed a silent prayer to any gods that might happen to be listening.
"I'll be fine," Ëara murmured through bruised lips. "I played dead, that's all- got trampled for my pains, but it's better than being killed. Just as well that orcs are too stupid to check whether someone's actually dead or not! Still, at least there'll be half a dozen less orcs for your father's archers to sort out."
Arella couldn't help grinning- typical Ëara!
"And Stormling- is she alright?" Ëara enquired. Arella smiled.
"She's got a nasty gash to her left fore hock, but there's nothing too bad," she said reassuringly. "and my father will make everything all right, just like he always does."
"He'll have his work cut out this time," Ëara muttered before she fainted.
King Aragorn of Gondor rode into Rivendell with his wife and young son, Aramorn, surrounded by guards and lords. He pulled the black charger up short at the sight of an elf with pale gold hair and a red haired dwarf dismounting from a white horse.
"Legolas! Gimli! My old friends!" The two looked up, then bowed to their old friend. He pulled them both up and they grinned once more at each other. Ignoring everyone else, the three went together into Rivendell palace to greet Elrond.
"What does my father want to go around with an elf and a fat dwarf for?" complained Aramorn. His mother shushed him.
"_I'm_ an elf, in case you haven't noticed!" Arwen snapped. "And Legolas and Gimli are your father's old friends from the War of the Ring. He hasn't seen them for more than fifteen years!"
Her son huffed, but held his tongue for a change.
The next arrival was Gandalf the White on Shadowfax, Lord of the horses. He had been away from Rivendell for several years, and now that he had returned he had brought someone with him- a tall young girl with steady grey eyes and a startling shock of hair as white as Gandalf's own, sitting very straight on her own horse and dressed in pale blue robes with a tiny, golden-feathered, orange-eyed owl on her shoulder. She was introduced to all as Dalla Bluehame, a wizardess (the title of 'witch' was apparently not used for those of her and Gandalf's order) and a recent discovery of Gandalf's, her power being slightly less than that needed for a Grey title. She was to be Gandalf's student.
Elrond himself came out of the castle to greet his old wizard friend. The great elven Lord looked startled as he saw Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn ride up out of the mists that now surrounded Rivendell, surrounded by elven warriors.
"I thought it was as well to bring them, since they had been sent out of the Undying Lands by I know not what force- them and many of their warriors," Gandalf explained in elvish. "There is great trouble in Middle Earth, greater even than you have seen, and we are likely to need their help at this Council that you have called. Many elves have, in fact, been sent out of the Undying Lands- not just you and your old court and warriors but the River elves that we have not seen for at least a thousand years."
Elrond's face was worried, but in an effort to change the subject he replied, "Very well, Gandalf, but certain Messrs. Baggins have long awaited your return, and Bilbo in particular. I fear that he does not have very much longer in this world."
"Then I will certainly hurry to him," answered Gandalf, his face more sombre than ever. "Perhaps I may be able to help." Elrond shook his head.
"I fear not, old friend- you know that I am a mighty healer, but I can do no more for him other than to ease the pain."
"Where there's life there's hope, my friend," sighed the wizard as he accompanied Elrond into the palace of Rivendell.
The Urgent Council of the Free Peoples was called late that night and took place bathed in moonlight. All the most important figures of Middle Earth were there, with some important additions- Lord Haf (A/N: pronounced Harv, like the welsh) and Lady Gwanwynol of the River Elves, a largely forgotten race of elves who spoke their own version of elvish and had been in the Undying Lands for just over a thousand years with the result that they had been forgotten by all but the most learned of elven and wizardkind. Lord Haf, Lady Gwanwynol and the rest of their deputation were taller and more slender than any other elves and wore their hair in tiny, intricate braids, but their eyes were the strangest thing about them: they were blue, blue-green or blue-grey right to the edges, with no traces of white. Also Merry, Pippin, Ëara and Arella were there, by virtue of being the ones to have first spotted the orcs, which were a new development (all four having changed into cleaner versions of the clothes they had worn earlier), and several of the dwarves of Erebor, from whence Gimli had come. They glared at him with hooded eyes, disliking his great friendship with Legolas and, to a lesser extent, Aragorn. Frodo too was there, looking very thin and sad (he had been nursing Bilbo for several months, and had in consequence been eating and sleeping badly), sitting next to Faramir and his wife Eowyn, who had brought their twin daughters Lucia and Luna with them. A late arrival was King Eomer of Rohan; he and his party had been attacked by orcs and though there had been no fatalities (it had been hard to judge whether humans or orcs were the more surprised party when they had met) the King had been badly injured and it had taken all of Elrond's craft to patch him up. At last Elrond indicated that he was ready to speak.
"Elves, humans, dwarves and hobbits," he began. "It is a time of great confusion in Middle Earth. We elves, who should never have been able to have left the Undying Lands even had we wanted to, have been pushed out and returned to our old places of abode, even the River Elves who left as a body some one thousand two hundred and twenty one years ago. Besides that, Sauron's old kingdom in Mordor has been rebuilt and is re-operating- my gratitude to Gandalf and Dalla for that piece of information, which I should imagine took some skill and a deal of nerve to obtain- and is our belief that Saruman, a wizard we have long thought dead, is back and is rebuilding Isengard. Those of you with young children" –he looked particularly at Aramorn and the twins- "are welcome to stay at Rivendell until the danger passes, or at least until you can guarantee a safe passage home. I would not have brought you here at all had we known about the orcs, but the first news we have of them was today, so there was very little that I could do." There had been several exclamations from various Council members during this long speech, but Aragorn spoke first.
"From what I heard earlier, the orcs were first encountered in Trollshaws forest. Ëara, in what direction were they marching?"
The hobbit-girl shook her head. "No idea, but then I only saw them because I heard the commotion and came to see what was going on. Merry and Pippin should know."
"I think they were going towards Rivendell, though I cannot be sure," said Merry.
"What would they want here?" asked Lord Celeborn. "Rivendell is too well guarded, both by magic and fighters, for a party of so few orcs to get within half a league- or at least it used to be. Is it still so?"
"Of course," answered Elrond. "The minute we were left here in Rivendell I realised that something must be wrong, and so I renewed and reinforced all protection on the village as well as calling this council. It is now more strongly protected than it has ever been before."
"The fact remains," said Lady Gwanwynol, "that we elves were pushed out of the Undying Lands, something that could only have been accomplished by a being of very great power. From the little I have heard of the War of the Ring, only Sauron could ever have done such a thing, and he has been destroyed. Who else could have done this, and for what reason?"
Gandalf now spoke for the first time. "As most of you will know, Dalla and I- indeed, all my Order- are the mortal incarnation of a Valar inside a human body. Those of the valar who remain Outside- in other words, not in solid form- are more powerful than I, or any other being for that matter, could ever hope to be. It is possible that one Valar has gone bad, as happened before, and though that time Sauron was the result, it may be that this Dark Valar is responsible for Saruman being brought back to life, and all the other changes that you have noticed. The remaining valar, realising we remaining Free Peoples could never fight this Dark threat on our own, decided that we needed the elves so badly that they forcibly brought them out of the Undying Lands. I would remind you again that this is only the merest conjecture that Dalla and I have evolved, but nonetheless it does seem to be the most likely, and indeed only answer anyone has come up with so far."
The Lady Galadriel nodded her head in agreement. "You may well be right, Gandalf Whitebeard. But how can we discover the truth?"
"Someone must go to _Ñgoloron_, the Mountain of Wisdom, and there enquire of the Valar what it is that we must do," said Legolas, after some thought. "I believe it is only there that we may have some communication with the Outside Valar." Everyone looked at Gandalf.
"He is quite right," he agreed, "but I am afraid that I cannot go, for without my power Bilbo will die. I will not have that happen for as long as possible- he should never have come back from the Undying Lands."
"I will go," said Dalla quietly. "You can send me instructions using _Nole_, my owl. But… my power is not great enough that I could go alone- I have no knowledge of fighting, and it seems to me that there is bound to be great danger on this quest."
"I will go," said Legolas.
"And I," said Gimli.
"With your permission, father, we would go also," requested Lucia and Luna. The twins were pretty girls of about twenty years, with a river of pale blonde hair that was their chief beauty and clever, sea-blue eyes, but they were also Shield Maidens of Rohan on their mother's side, and each wore twin curved swords crossed over their backs. Their mother and father glanced at each other for a second before nodding.
"And us too," Arella and Ëara said quietly. Arella quelled her father, Elrond, who had started to object, with a single glance.
"Father, I know you will have many misgivings about this," she said calmly, "but you could look at it this way: we can either go fully prepared and with your blessing, or we can sneak out and get killed trying to follow the others. Which would you prefer?" Elrond actually chuckled, then his handsome features became grave once more.
"Very well," he said heavily. "Anyone else?" Aragorn shook his head.
"I cannot," he said simply. "There are no second-in-commands whom I could trust in command of Gondor." Merry and Pippin glanced at each other.
"We'll go," they said together.
"No affrontage is meant to your persons, but what use will hobbits be in this matter?" asked Lord Haf. "For I have never known a halfling such as you or the girl Ëara to be skilled in the use of a sword, or to have any great wisdom." Gandalf shook his head.
"Do you not know, Lord Haf of the River-People, that it was the halfling named Frodo Baggins who sits in this council, not an elf nor a man nor yet a dwarf, who saved the Free-Peoples in the first place, some twoscore years ago?" Frodo felt the Elf-Lord's gaze on him as Gandalf pointed him out, and looked up into the cold, unblinking greenish-blue eyes of the RiverLord. They were oddly comforting and cold as ice at the same time, and Frodo felt himself quickly falling into an almost-trance as he stared back at Haf. His reverie was broken by Prince Aramorn jumping up and down in his seat.
"I'm going! I'm going!" he almost yelled, to be quelled by an angry glance from his father.
"Though I admit I have not been involved in your care as much as I should have liked, I felt sure we had at least instilled in you the proper way to behave before your elders and betters. Until now, that is," Aragorn said cuttingly. "You are certainly not going on any such quest- you lack basic discipline and any sort of maturity or responsibility is certainly far beyond your grasp. Now sit down and be quiet." Aramorn did as he was told before the inexorable gaze of his father, though his handsome face was sullen and his eyes flashed with resentment.
"Well, and so we have it," said Elrond. "Nine companions in a new Alliance. When will you leave?"
"As soon as supplies and weapons can be made ready," replied Dalla. "Say dawn the day after tomorrow?"
"And so shall it be," Elrond confirmed. "A new fellowship- the Alliance of the New and Old."


End file.
